UTOPIA Announces That They Will Pursue Google Fiber RFI

Today on the steps of city hall in West Valley City, UTOPIA announced their intention to pursue an RFI with Google on their ambitious fiber-to-the-home project. Mayors of several of the cities spoke strongly in favor of the idea and provided examples of how UTOPIA fiber is already enriching their cities. Several also pointed out that Google plans to use a model almost exactly like UTOPIA which validates their plan.

Several private companies, including Thomas Arts, spoke strongly in favor of UTOPIA and the value it provided for their growing businesses. It was also announced that Connected Lyfe has joined the network as a new service provider, though it’s not entirely clear as to what services they plan to offer.

5 Responses to UTOPIA Announces That They Will Pursue Google Fiber RFI

don’t even know if it’s the same company but i found a description of Connected Lyfe on a job posting at / career fair description at EMU (thats Michigan)

“Connected Lyfe is a digital media company providing a new consumer experience through the development of new media technologies and partnership with metro and last mile fiber networks. Founded by the team who first distributed HD TV to PCs over the Internet, Connected Lyfe is now reaching into the living room with innovative new content services, and beyond the living room with traditional and new content sources.”

they where looking for a Software Developer, the site seems current. pipl.com also shows a few job openings in Ann Arbor and South Jordan for Connected Lyfe.

Social network searches bring up results for the companies Business Analyst, VP-o-Sales & HR Manager all around the SLC valley. For being an internet/media/it company they sure don’t have much of an internet presence.

I hate to be a party pooper, but in my not so extremely well informed opinion it’s a long shot. Very long.

Google clearly stated one of their main goals with this initiative was to explore new deployment techniques, which I assume means the physical OSP deployment but perhaps more importantly public/private partnership strategies. Working with sixteen(?) separate municipalities instead of just one – Seattle for example, which will vigorously pursue this – is less than an ideal scenario for Google.

At least UTOPIA has an attractive PTP architecture, but I think it’s simply too far along for what they’re looking for, at least for this particular project. That’s not to say there isn’t the possibility for a relationship in the future, but it doesn’t seem getting to market quickly by partnering with an existing network is of much concern to them. My reading of it is they’re more concerned with establishing some sort of precedent for a successful public/private partnership in the muni FTTH space.